The sequence of the last brawl between parliamentarians, in the middle of the chamber, leaves no one indifferent. A routine debate on the law of differentiated autonomy for the regions in the Chamber of Deputies in Rome ended on Wednesday afternoon in a grotesque scene. Pushing, kicking, hitting… An opposition deputy leaving the chamber in a wheelchair. Another throwing an object against the Government bench. This scuffle is an extreme example of the political tension that exists in Italy.
Tension is a constant in Italian politics, both within the frequent gubernatorial coalitions and between the Government and the opposition. Snubs, confrontations… All of this happens regularly. Violence is not as frequent, but it is not completely unusual either, unlike in the Spanish Parliament, where the confrontations are rhetorical, not physical. In Italy practically every year there is a violent clash between deputies and senators, something that has happened with different governments. Despite these episodes, what happened on Wednesday, with the intervention of medical teams to treat the attacked deputy, was especially serious.
The tension that is being experienced in Italian politics is fueled by some particularly thorny law proposals from the far-right government coalition that are raising blisters. One is the law of differentiated autonomy, proposed by the League and which aims to establish the mechanism by which the regions that consider it can request authorization from the Government to autonomously manage some matters over which the central State currently has jurisdiction, such as taxation. , education, transportation or health. The opposition accuses Meloni’s Executive of wanting to “split the country in two” and denounces that the rule will penalize the southern regions, traditionally more backward, and that it will increase the gap with the north.
Another is the reform of the premiership, which is being debated in the Senate and which involves a change in the Constitution with the aim of strengthening the powers of the prime minister. The idea of the far-right Government is that citizens elect the head of the Executive directly in the elections, with his votes, without going through Parliament, as is done until now in Italy and in the majority of parliamentary democracies.
The latest brawls, with pushing, insults and shouting included, within Parliament and in the surrounding areas, have been over disparate issues such as cultured meat, such as when in November 2023 a group of deputies led a melee with several members of associations of farmers in front of the Government headquarters; finances, as in April 2022, when the microphones flew in a session of the Parliamentary Finance Commission; the minimum wage, as in December 2023, when there was jostling in Parliament during a debate on this issue; or the autonomy of the regions, a traditionally delicate issue, which last April already produced friction between parliamentarians.
Although the Constitution establishes that “citizens entrusted with public functions have the duty to perform them with discipline and honor,” in Italy there has been a widespread feeling of a certain tolerance towards unlimited parliamentary conflict and the idea that everything okay, since until now, this type of disturbance has not had notable consequences and has not aroused great signs of rejection, not even among citizens.
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Wednesday’s show began in a way that did not predict the unedifying outcome. Some members of the opposition sang the national anthem and waved flags in criticism of the rule proposed by the League led by Matteo Salvini, which, according to them, will be a great disadvantage for the south. A deputy of the 5 Star Movement, Leonardo Donno, attempted to hand an Italian flag to the Minister of Regional Affairs, Roberto Calderoli, of the League, in protest. Two security guards prevented him from approaching the ruler. In just a few seconds, a group of deputies from the government coalition rushed in and, without saying a word, a riot broke out. In the heat of the battle one of the parliamentarians involuntarily pushed the minister, shortly after another grabbed him by the shoulders and took him out of the scene. Igor Iezzi, a League deputy very close to Salvini, threw several punches at the head of the deputy Donno, who fell to the ground and ended up leaving the room in a wheelchair escorted by a medical team.
The scene was completed with the alleged throwing of a chair by the Democratic Party deputy Nico Stumpo against the Government benches and with chants and provocative gestures. The League deputy Domenico Furgiuele was expelled for making an X gesture with his hands addressing the opposition, which at that moment was singing the partisan anthem Bella Ciao. Furgiuele’s gesture was interpreted as a reference to the Decima Flottiglia MAS (X MAS), the military unit that was under the direct orders of dictator Benito Mussolini. The parliamentarian later justified himself by alleging that he made a cross with his hands, as the judges on the television program do. X Factor to show their displeasure towards the opposition’s chants.
“Out with the fascists”
On Thursday, when the debate resumed in the Chamber of Deputies, embers of hostility still remained. The opposition parliamentarians once again sang the Bella Ciao and they shouted “the fascists out of Parliament”, after the number two of the League, Andrea Cripp, defended that singing the partisan anthem is “worse” than making the X MAS sign, “because communism caused millions of deaths ”. “Unfortunately, communists continue to exist in this Parliament,” added the politician.
Before resuming interventions in the chamber, Elly Schlein, secretary of the Democratic Party, asked her ranks to avoid “falling into provocations” and announced that she would speak with other members of the opposition “to evaluate possible joint actions.” “We will not let this aggression pass as a normal event, what has happened cannot be silenced,” cried the opposition leader. And he warned: “The opposition will be extremely harsh against the reforms that dismantle the constitutional structure of the country,” in reference to the latest norms proposed by the Executive of Giorgia Meloni, that of the differentiated autonomy of the regions and the reform that aims to introduce the direct election of the prime minister, until now the responsibility of Parliament.
The Government has tried to downplay what happened and have denounced that it is an attempt to overshadow “Giorgia Meloni’s G-7” in reference to the international summit that brings together the leaders of the richest countries in the world. days in the south of Italy. “We are giving a worse image than we normally give. It seems to me a harakiri“, protested the president of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, of Brothers of Italy.
The Italian opposition has also denounced the way in which the scuffle was recorded in the parliamentary minutes of Wednesday’s session, which speaks of “disorders” in the room. “Evidently, what happened yesterday cannot be summarized in the minutes with the word disorders, it is an attack. It has to be clear between us,” lamented Democratic Party deputy Federico Fornaro. “It was not a disorder, but an aggression by squad members,” denounced Marco Pellegrini, of the M5S, using a word that alludes to the violent actions carried out by fascist groups at the time of Italian fascism.
This Thursday, the opposition protested during the debates in the Upper House by showing the country’s flags, while the Government senators responded by singing the national anthem.
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